He will be the first American to give the inaugural address for the academy's summer programme, which has been held since The Hague Academy was established in 1923.

The amazing thing is that this isn't the most amazing thing about Bernie's career.

In 2003 he served as a judge ad hoc of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and from 2003-2005 he was a member of an arbitral tribunal in a dispute between Malaysia and Singapore. He has recently been named judge ad hoc of the International Court of Justice in a maritime delimitation case between Romania and Ukraine. He is the only American lawyer ever appointed to serve as judge ad hoc before both of these international tribunals.

Having people like Bernie Oxman here is one of the things that makes UM the place it is.